Last week, the White House officially released their 2018 Budget Proposal. Right now, that proposal is in the House of Representatives and will eventually hit the floor of the Senate. Many programs that aid Americans are on the chopping block, including programs like Meals on Wheels and after school programs, housing programs and PBS - just to name a few. These are all programs that quite literally save and enrich the lives of Americans. While these cuts are indeed stark, our environment may have the most to lose. At the heart of calls for environmental justice, is the idea of a shared ecosystem that should, with proper stewardship, support and sustain us for decades to come.

The EPA, NOAA, FEMA, and other agencies all stand to lose funding for programs that protect Americans from environmental disasters and injustices; protect our air, water, and soil from dangerous pollution; and would make us less prepared for climate impacts. We all stand to lose when the environment we rely on becomes unsafe. In recent weeks, many have shared photos of what life was like before the EPA, sharing the health and environmental impacts of decades of pollution - what could be described as apocalyptic. In short, these cuts would make our government unable to adequately respond to environmental disasters, like chemical waste spills and pipeline bursts, or lead contamination in drinking water. The cuts would also steal away any opportunity for Americans to prepare for climate impacts by cutting research and removing preparedness programs.

No agency or government is perfect, but each serves an important role in our lives. Agencies like the EPA save lives by protecting our air and water. Agencies like NOAA save lives through storm preparedness and warning systems. Agencies like FEMA address the worst impacts of natural disasters. In turn, all of the following proposed cuts would wreak havoc on the lives and well-being of Americans: